Giroptic iO: This Panoptic Optic Will Convince The Skeptics

Giroptic is a 360 equipment manufacturer founded in San Francisco, CA, and Lille, France in 2008. The company appeared on major tech media’s radar in 2014 through its Kickstarter campaign around an allegedly “World’s First Full HD 360 Camera”, a lightbulb-shaped camera that captures 360*300 degrees, which raised 1.4 million.

By the end of 2016, Giroptic launched a mobile-friendly camera, Giroptic iO ($249), a simple plug’n’play 360 camera that supports 360 photography, videography, and livestreaming. The Android-compatible version of the camera was chosen as the giveaway to the 4000 attendees at the Facebook F8 Developer Conference this year, in resonance with Facebook’s Social VR.

Mainly made of aluminum alloy, it comes with a blue plastic protective sleeve. For your camera and phone to stay connected, the sleeve can’t be removed.

Having to be plugged into your phone’s charging port, you might have to take your phone case off before using it.

How does it work?

Enough lavishing on how adorable it looks, you might be most interested in knowing its shooting specs. The camera captures video in a 1920 x 960 resolution at 30 frames per second and takes pictures with a large f/1.9 aperture, which means more admittance of light and a shallower focus. Notice that its low-resolution preview can be deceptive when the actual exported footage turns out pretty sharp.

Instead of us making a laundry list of technical jargon, you can watch this unedited video to see what kind of footage Giroptic iO is capable of shooting.

For more videos made with iO, open the VeeR VR app and search for “Giroptic”.

When you connect the camera to your phone, it automatically launches the iO360 app. You only need a total of 5 minutes to get the hang of it: The app includes three modes: Photo, Video, and Live. There’s no lag between your phone and the camera; you can monitor the remaining battery on the top left or configure your camera on the bottom right of your phone screen.

Images and footage will be stored on your phone, which you can preview in either spherical view or little planet mode. You can share everything from the app straight to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Flickr. It even comes with an iMessage app so you can text your 360 work to your friends and family!

Giroptic iO Footage

Pros and cons?

Let’s take a look at some specs first:

Camera

Giroptic

Image Resolution

Dual Lens 3840*1920

Highest Video Quality

1920*960

Camera Angle

2 x 195°

Video Format

H.264

Battery Capacity

915mAh

Battery Life

1 hour

Compatibility

Android 5.0 / iOS 8.0 and later

Anti-shake

EIS Anti-shake System

Now onto the pros and cons!

Pros:

Lightweight, handy and portable;

Intuitive features make the camera incredibly easy to use;

Real-time image processing and uploading to major social media; supports 360 livestreaming to Facebook, YouTube and Periscope, for you to interact with your followers;

Cloud Sync to iCloud and Google Photos makes your content available across devices;

Cons:

Video quality rests at a mediocre 1080p because of the camera’s diminutive dimensions. Still images are able to reach 4K. Low resolution is a two-edged sword, at the expense of losing some footage quality, Giroptic conveniently stitches your footage up and saves it on your phone, which saves a ton of time;

Overheats after 15 minutes of continued shooting. Recommended countermeasure is to cool it off regularly to preserve the battery;

Unlike its Android counterpart, the iOS version lacks touch exposure and image filters;

The camera is mounted through the charging port, which means you will have to operate your phone upside down.

Pro tips:

Giroptic offers three versions to cater to your device: iOS, Android Micro USB B, and Android USB Type C. The three versions are not interchangeable, so make sure which type of port your phone has before you make a purchase.

For iOS devices, iPhone 5S & iPad Air products and later are guaranteed compatible. If you’re not sure if your Android phone is compatible with the camera, look it up in their directory on Giroptic’s official website before checkout.

The camera comes with a waterproof case that can last underwater for around half an hour.

Worth my money?

Giroptic is your best choice if you’re looking for a feather-weight portable camera to jot down moments your life, and don’t demand too high of video quality. It’s super easy to work with, and is an affordable addition for those who want to build a killer feed on social media.

VeeR VR is a leading VR content platform with the mission of empowering everyone to create and share virtual reality content. Within a year of its establishment, it’s become a phenomenon sweeping through the 360 community, and has been featured on Google Daydream, Samsung Gear VR and HTC Vive. While we believe that VR is the future of storytelling, we want to encourage all VR lovers to create beyond boundaries.

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1 Response

I don’t see a case about which you mentioned. I’ve got only a regular case to keep the camera inside and be a stand for my phone, but it cannot protect the water. If you know where I can that case, the one you mentioned, plz let me know. I really wanna buy it since I’m willing to use it with water.